button in SafariGolik and Kim Bag Day 1c & 1d Chip Leads as Deep Stack Kick Off Passes 1,200 Entries
Friday's pair of starting flights in the $600 Deep Stack Kick Off ($1,000,000 Guaranteed) at the Borgata Summer Poker Open powered by BetMGM Poker wrapped up with Pavel Kim ending the day as the overall chip leader through four flights.
Kim dominated Day 1d, bagging 1,511,000 chips to become the first player to surpass the 1.5 million mark and move to the top of the leaderboard heading into the final day of starting flights.
Earlier in the day, Day 1c drew 410 entries, with 52 players finishing in the money before the field was trimmed to 33 Day 2 qualifiers.
Leading the survivors was Bartholomew Golik (pictured), who bagged 971,000, while Dale Capuano (879,000) and Joseph Cutler (818,000) rounded out the top three.
Cutler's biggest moment came on the money bubble. Facing a three-bet shove, he called with ace-jack and found himself flipping against the bubble boy's pocket sevens. Cutler filled up to send his opponent to the rail and guaranteed the remaining players a payday. The pot pushed Cutler beyond the one-million-chip mark, although he surrendered some of those chips before the bags came out.
Also advancing from Day 1c with healthy stacks were Craig Robertson (719,000), Saker Alatrach (625,000), Anthony Nastasi (612,000), Ketan Pandya (599,000), Daniel Ilijeski (588,000) and Josue Vazquez (581,000).
The evening Day 1d added another 239 entries, with 30 players earning the $1,200 min-cash before the field played down to 20 survivors.
Kim was comfortably clear of the chasing pack, while James Goldblatt (634,000) and Roberto Pagano (624,000) completed the top three from the flight. David Di Lorenzo (490,000) and Matthew Parnes (405,000) were the only other players to bag more than 400,000 chips.
Day 1cd Chip Counts
Busy Saturday Expected
The two Friday flights added 649 entries, bringing the tournament total to 1,216 entries through the opening four flights. So far, 100 players have secured a seat in Sunday's Day 2.
The $1 million guarantee is now well within sight. A total of 1,924 entries are needed to cover it, leaving 708 entries still required. With Day 1e already attracting a huge field and Day 1f still to come on Saturday evening, the tournament is on course to comfortably eclipse the seven-figure guarantee.
The Borgata conference center is filling up fast, with tables about to spill into the main poker room on the casino floor as players continue to arrive for the final two starting flights of the Deep Stack Kick Off.